The Transforming Cross

Romans 12:9-21

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;

Love one another with mutual affection; 

outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the saints; 

extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with one another; 

do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; 

do not claim to be wiser than you are.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil, 

but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.

If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, 

live peaceably with all.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, 

but leave room for the wrath of God; 

for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."

No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; 

if they are thirsty, 

give them something to drink; 

for by doing this 

you will heap burning coals on their heads."

Do not be overcome by evil, 

but overcome evil with good.

Matthew 16:21-28

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples 

that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering 

at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, 

and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, 

"God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you."

But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! 

You are a stumbling block to me; 

for you are setting your mind not on divine things 

but on human things."

Then Jesus told his disciples, 

"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves 

and take up their cross and follow me.

For those who want to save their life will lose it, 

and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world 

but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

"For the Son of Man is to come with his angels 

in the glory of his Father, 

and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.

Truly I tell you, there are some standing here 

who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man 

coming in his kingdom."

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When we last left our loving Lord Jesus and his lovingly lost friend Peter, Jesus had rewarded Peter with the new name of “Rock” and the keys to the kingdom. All this because Peter had gotten the Final Jeopardy question correct: When Jesus said - “Who You Say I AM”, Peter replied, “What is, The Messiah, the Son of the Living God?” Way to Go, Peter! Clearly you are speaking Words that come direct from Almighty God. Nicely done.

But now, even though Peter is still feeling pretty good about himself, Jesus changes the sound of this next “Name That Tune” game altogether. When he begins to play, in a minor key, a song that speaks of his coming days, and his need to suffer, and die, and be raised again, Peter decides to make use of the Special Keys he was just given, and remind Jesus that life is now to be played in a major key - that what lies ahead is Easy Street, the Good Life, now that their Messiah will come and Pack Up All Their Cares and Woe. After all, didn’t they expect the Messiah to conquer the oppressors and let the Jews come out on top of the heap? Wasn’t this the turning point for the Jews to win the game, to have unlimited free lives from here on out? 

So Peter confidently pulls Jesus aside to remind him that he’s clearly got it wrong. But wait a minute - not so fast. Where Peter’s prior words had clearly been heaven-sent, Jesus wastes no time defining the source of these words - Get behind me, Satan! For you are a stumbling block to me. I just told you about binding on earth what is bound in heaven, and here you go focusing on human things, not divine.

Wow. Peter and the disciples must have felt like, Wait. What? But before they can even begin to try and figure out what Jesus just said, and more importantly, what he just meant, Jesus begins to explain to them what it means to focus on divine things. To be his disciples, he tells them, they must take up their cross and follow him.

Their cross. He hadn’t even gotten to specifying with them that he was going to be taking up his cross. Our cross, actually. Dying by the cross - well, there was no worse form of torture than that. And he said he was going to die. So are they going to die too? 

Somehow in the midst of all this, they seem to have missed it when he said, “and on the third day I will be raised.” Or maybe they heard it but just couldn’t comprehend. In any case, they find themselves in the middle of a teaching about taking up a cross, and losing their life to find it. In fact, if they try to save their life, they will lose it.

And isn't that what Peter was really trying to do? Keeping Jesus alive is the key, he thinks, to his safety, to the safety of all the followers of Jesus. As long as they can be “in with the in crowd”, they can reap the benefits of following the “right guy.”

Well, none of the Gospels tell us anything about what the disciples had to say in response to this. We can hope that they realized it was time to keep their mouths shut and listen. After all, it appeared from Peter’s experience that whatever they said either came from God or came from Satan. It doesn’t appear that there is anything in between for a disciple of Christ.

The contemporary theologian, Marva Dawn, has written an entire book on the one chapter from Paul’s letter to the Romans that our scripture text was drawn from today - Romans 12. Her book is called “Truly the Community”, and it seeks to reflect how this particular chapter in Romans gives us a view of the kind of community that is offered through our new life in Christ - the glad hope, the cheerfulness, that is ours when we trust the Great Giver of Grace to work through his gifts to us. That gift of cheerfulness is connected in the verse right before our passage, it’s connected to “the compassionate one” - the one who shows mercy.

So our passage for today in Romans could easily be seen as yet another “to-do” list for being a good Christian, a good follower of Jesus. As we read through this list, we could begin to think that this is what it means to take up our cross. It’s a pretty tough list for us to do. In fact, it’s practically inconceivable for any mortal. 

Let’s hear this “to do” list that Sharon read from the New Revised Standard Version translation once more, this time using The Common English Bible translation.

• Love should be shown without pretending. 
• Hate evil, and hold on to what is good. 
• Love each other like the members of your family. 
• Be the best at showing honor to each other. 
• Don’t hesitate to be enthusiastic—be on fire in the Spirit as you serve the Lord! 
• Be happy in your hope, stand your ground when you’re in trouble, and devote yourselves to prayer. 
• Contribute to the needs of God’s people, and welcome strangers into your home. 
• Bless people who harass you—bless and don’t curse them. 
• Be happy with those who are happy, and cry with those who are crying. 
• Consider everyone as equal, and don’t think that you’re better than anyone else. Instead, associate with people who have no status. Don’t think that you’re so smart. 
• Don’t pay back anyone for their evil actions with evil actions, but show respect for what everyone else believes is good. 
• If possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people. 
• Don’t try to get revenge for yourselves, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. It is written, Revenge belongs to me; I will pay it back, says the Lord.
• Instead, If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. By doing this, you will pile burning coals of fire upon his head. [and by the way, this was a good thing for them, not the basis for shame, but a gift of burning coals that they could use to rekindle their fire, or to turn from their ways. You were giving them a way out of their enemy lifestyle.]
• Don’t be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good. 

Well, like I said, setting out to live by this list can surely feel like a cross to bear. We are just not wired this way, are we? And if anyone knows that, it’s Jesus.

But Marva Dawn explains in her book how this second half of chapter 12 of the Romans letter is describing what happens when we live our lives according to the first two verses of chapter 12. Please take a minute to look these up in your pew Bibles.  Chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, from the New Revised Standard Version.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

Paul says: Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

Jesus says: Take up your cross and follow me.

Paul says: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.

Jesus says: Those who save their lives (by conforming to this world) will lose it, but those who lose their lives for my sake will save it.

The renewed mind - the transformed mind - is able to discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

This is what Jesus told Peter he was doing, in fact, when he proclaimed those Rock-Solid Words - You are the Messiah. 

Jesus said, God gave you those words. You discerned the will of God right there. Way to go, bro!

Taking up our cross to follow Jesus is allowing our minds to be transformed - not settling for minds conformed to this world. And when we do this, we find ourselves rewired - renewed - to live according to this list, this “wonderful life” list, this list of ways the kingdom of heaven is here and now. 

What I love the most about life as a follower of Jesus is the way it turns everything we would typically expect upside down. Following Jesus transforms us, so we can reflect a transformed world. Here and now.

The instruction Paul provides in Chapter 12 is not to do our best to do these things. Rather, Paul tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. That’s the instruction. Take up our cross, understand that saving our life will only lose it, so be prepared to give up everything, to be generous with everything God has given us, to sacrifice our life to a kingdom life. When we choose the transformed life over the life conformed to this world, God will use us to live the way this list describes us, and to show the beauty of that transformed life to all he see us living that way. And what sort of wonderful world would that be?